Allianna (technically a rough draft btw)

Chapter Five

Chapter Five:
Allianna woke some time in the afternoon, only hours after the time she’d gone to sleep and the sun still shone brightly outside. Somehow she could see it but it did not penetrate the glass of the window. She sighed and went to her mirror to see how awful she looked. Her eyes weren’t near as red as she’d expected them to be.
She reached for her comb and carefully picked out all the knots in her hair. She started to braid it then let go and combed it back out. Alex had said he liked it down. She would leave it down. She glanced at the robe hung over the carved chair by the window then slipped it on; she wanted to go see if Amnira still slept. Something had woken her her and she wanted to be sure it was not her child awakened from a nightmare.
She slipped quietly out of her room and made her way down the hall in the direction that Alex had taken. She passed two other rooms, one labeled “nymph” the other labeled “elfin” before she came to the one marked “sprite”. Quietly she opened the door to find a room painted in pastels with all kinds of scenes bearing the images of sprites and their cousins the piskies. On the far wall, by the window was a cradle carved with foxes and wolves, a carved mural with tiny imps hung above it. Against each of the other walls two poster beds were lined, each in a pastel color. Curled in a bed with soft pink pillows and a soft pink quilt Amnira lay sleeping soundly, still clinging tightly to the doll Mithel had given her.
Allianna smiled, her eyes filling with tears she did not shed. She turned to leave and realized the door across the hall was marked “demon”. Alex had put Amnira in a room near his, almost as if he were watching over her as she slept.
In his room Alex could sense her standing out there, could feel the rise of emotion as she saw her daughter sleeping so soundly and then another rise of emotion after that.
Her emotions filled his mind. He could cast them out but he chose not to, wondering why she suddenly was feeling uncertain of herself then a soft knock sounded on his door.
He made no move to reply. Again she knocked but again he did not answer her. Again he felt her uncertainty. Then the door handle turned slowly down and she inched the door open.
He met her gaze and said nothing. He did not dare. If he did anything right now he might loose the tight reins he had over himself.
Allianna frowned and stepped forward. “You’re having trouble sleeping?”
Alex raised a questioning brow. “What did I do to imply that?”
“Nothing I- I don’t know...”
Feeling her discomfot Alex changed the subject. “You met my niece. Her robe suits you. I’ll have to thank her. The amber silk draws attention to your eyes.”
Allianna blushed and drew the bathrobe tighter around herself. “Why such a vast nursery?”
Alex shrugged. “Seemed to fit the big house. It will save whoever comes in after the slayers catch up with me the trouble of converting it.”
Allianna cocked her head to the side and frowned. “I think that’s the first time since I first saw you in Venor that you’ve ever outright lied to me.”
Alex scowled. “What are you doing here sweetling?”
Allianna blushed deeper. “I was just checking in on Amnira and I- Well...” Suddenly she straightened. “How about I ask you a question that is hard to explain. Why did you follow me for so very long? Why, after you turned me, did you help me get Amnira back even at the cost of upsetting your sister? Why do you-”
“Hush..” Alex soothed, slipping out of his bed and enfolding her in his arms. “It was not my intent to upset you, dear one.”
“Why did you have the nursery furnished like that? With so many beds and the cradle?” Allianna asked softly.
“There are many children that get abandoned like Trisallynn, I simply give them a warm place to sleep until they find people compassionate enough to take them in at the tavern in the village. Or until I find such people.”
“I think you actually believe that,” Allianna murmured, drawing free of his embrace. “But it’s not true. I mean, you do that but that’s not really why...” She stood there lost in thought for a moment.
Alex’s nails bit into the flesh of his palms as he tried to pull himself back.
“Alex I...”
“Not now, sweetling. I know you need to feed but now is not the time,” Alex interrupted. He could feel the pang of hunger that was filling her so very suddenly, it would be like that for her for at least another month before the hunger became less insistent and it would not be painful for several hours this day. Right now he did not think he could hold himself if she fed from him.
Allianna’s eyes filled with confusion. She was sensing things but she did not understand them. All she knew was that somehow it was Alex she was sensing and that somehow he was hurting.
“Alex?”
“Allianna you should go back to bed,” Alex murmured.
“What if I-” Allianna paused then unclenched her hands at her sides and relaxed, stepping back toward him. “What if I don’t want to?”
“Sweetling it’s just your hunger. Ignore it and go back to bed.”
“It isn’t my hunger Alex. I think-” She paused again, her eyes a deep golden swirl of confusion. “I think it’s you I’m feeling...”
Alex stepped back, feeling somewhat a fool. He should have taken just the child inside and left Allianna with Mithel as he’d originally intended. But she’d wanted to come. She’d wanted to come not only for her daughter’s sake but for his too. Yet here he was backing away from her because he did not want to hurt her.
“None of my family ever tried to find me, though they must have heard I was alive. Enough of the demons knew that the rest of Ven must have known too. But not one of them ever came looking for me and I was so close to Maya at one point she had to have sensed me yet she did nothing. My mother made no attempt to save my life. She left me for dead. My father is dead. My brother has vanished and yet you, the one that tore my whole life apart. You are the only one on this god-forsaken-world that I trust. You, the one that is supposed to be my enemy. You are the one that searched all over Ven and the other world for me when word got out that I still lived. Why?”
“You know why,” Alex growled.
“No, I know the rumor that you yourself spread but I don’t know the real why and I don’t think you do either. But that doesn’t matter. You rescued me from my own self hate just before the moment when I would have given up and you rescued my daughter from enslavement and here you are in your room and something about me is causing you pain.
“I don’t want to cause you pain Alex. I wish to God I could hate you for what you’ve made me. I wish I could hate you for what you did to my family but I can’t. Somehow I can’t and all I want to do is take away the loneliness that surrounds you like a shroud I just don’t know how.”
For a moment Alex just looked at her. All the while she’d been talking she’d come very close to tears. Why? Because of him? No, because she felt something and felt helpless to do anything about it. But why would she want to?
“Allianna I-”
“Just shut up,” Allianna hissed, slipping her arms around his neck and getting up on her toes to kiss him. “I think I know what’s bothering you right now.”
Alex stiffened then kissed her back and dragged her against him. “You’re going to regret this,” he growled in her ear.
“Probably but it doesn’t matter,” Allianna murmured, slipping the shirt he slept in over his head then grinning as she trapped his arms behind his back with it.
Alex growled almost playfully and pulled his hands free of the shirt, nearly ripping it in the process. He gave up trying to fight it and just let himself go.
He took her mouth so thoroughly that her head spun. She almost whimpered when he stepped away to slide the bathrobe from her shoulders then slipped the straps of her nightgown down, letting it fall to the floor in a pool of soft silk.
She might regret it in the morning but, as she’d said, it didn’t matter. Right now, despite the fact that she shouldn’t, she wanted this.
The first time he took her slowly, but it didn’t end there. For the rest of the day
Alex let free his desire for her.

Allianna woke very slowly from a very restful sleep. She stirred a little then groaned as her sore muscles protested the movement. Someone stirred beside her and she realized she must have fallen asleep in Alex’s room. Slowly she withdrew herself from the bed and found her nightgown and robe where they still lay on the floor. She slipped the gown over her head then looked around the room.
It was furnished in the same colors as the entryway and the halls had been. But other than the furniture the room held very little, not much of it said anything about who
Alex was.
“You do not have to remain in here, sweetling.”
Allianna spun to find Alex looking straight at her, as wide-awake as she was. How long had he been awake? Why was he watching her with such anger in his eyes? Why was she just standing there and doing nothing?!
“Alex..” She searched for something to say, anything to explain her wantonness last afternoon but she could find no excuse. There weren’t any explanation, she’d simply wanted to be with him.
“You have no need to explain, just go. We both knew you would regret it,” Alex growled.
“But I.... don’t,” Allianna murmured. “I don’t regret it at all, and that frightens me.” She suddenly felt very small standing there in only her nightgown and she felt torn between the need to leave and the need to stay here with him.
His eyes lightened and he stood, pulling his own cloths on before stepping in front of her and setting his arms on her shoulders. “There is nothing wrong with your lack of regret, sweetling.” Hell, he wanted to thank God she didn’t regret it but he wondered if he brought God into this if the deity would take her away from him somehow. He had hurt far too many people working for Mirayine to deserve any kind of tenderness, especially if it came from her.
A soft tap sounded on the door and Allianna stiffened and tried to step away. Alex would have none of it, though and simply called for the other to enter.
Trisallynn slipped quietly into the room. If Allianna’s presense suprised her she made no show of it. “I just thought I’d let you know that the child is awake and wandering ‘round the house, Uncle. Also, I took the liberty of cooking some pancakes and stuff so if you feel like eating they’re down in the kitchen.”
“Thank you Tris. Did you need anything?” Alex inquired.
“I went out for a walk before I came here and I came across Mithel. She asked if I might like to go see one of the evenings plays in the village. Might I go?”
Alex nodded and the girl left to find Mithel.
“Let’s go see where that little one of yours has wandered. Maybe she would like some of those pancakes Trisallynn spoke of,” Alex suggested.
“But I...”
“Later,” Alex promised.
He disappeared into the hall before Allianna could say anything more and so she followed. They found Amnira in Trisallynn’s half of the house looking through a hall of paintings. The images were all of spider webs and spiders or elves with silver hair and black or blue skin.
“These were done by drow elves,” Amnira murmured. She turned and smiled slightly at Allianna. “Everything’s going to be ok now isn’t it?”
Allianna smiled back at her and found she wanted to cry. “I never should have left you there that day. I never should have tried to-”
“Hush, sweetling. You were never the one to blame and you need not force your self invented guilt upon the child,” Alex whispered in Allianna’s ear. He turned quite suddenly and lifted the child into his arms. “How about we get you some breakfast?”
Amnira giggled, finding herself quite relaxed with Alex now. Somehow she sensed that now that she was with him and with her mother she was safe and no harm would ever come to her again as long as she remained with them. “It’s the middle of the night, how can we have breakfast?”
“Well, young one. The term is “break”-”fast” and, since we usually sleep during the day our fast is during the day so, for us, breakfast is in the early night,” Alex explained gently.
“Is there any bacon?” Amnira asked excitedly.
“Knowing Tris there is and I’d bet my left fang there will be some fresh strawberries too,” Alex promised.
Amnira squealed in delight and pulled free to make her way to where she must have already discovered the kitchen was located. As promised she found a bowl of plump strawberries set in the center of the table shimmering with the early frost of the evening right next to the pancakes.
Allianna watched until she was so lost in thought she was barely aware of anything around her.